The Adventuress curls up with a 'gentleman's game'

Feb. 11, 2013

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The Adventuress (Leslie Bailey) practices sweeping, or the act of brushing the ice before the stone to cause less friction for the stone to slide farther and curl less. This stone was being delivered to Joshua Scott, Noblesville, a member of Circle City Curling Club. / Marc Lebryk / For The Star

When: League at 8 p.m. Fridays through March 29 (7 p.m. on April 5); Learn to Curl Clinics dates set after enough people express an interest at info@circlecitycurling.comWhere: The Forum at Fishers, 9022 E. 126th St., Fishers. Cost: $30. Information: www

A member of the Circle City Curling Club, Scott was seconds from delivering his first stone across the ice when I began blabbering about pigeon pose.

“Uh no,” he responded, shaking off the disruption and repositioning himself for the throw.

“Curling is a ‘gentleman’s game,’ ” Club president Wes Hoffman said shortly after my display of unsportsmanlike conduct.

Distracting the opposition (or in this case your own teammate) is considered a breach of etiquette, as is being unprepared for one’s turn, and failing to line up the opposing team’s stone for play.

Despite its dated and sexist tagline, I quickly grew fond of the concept — a sport built upon honor and character? I’d say the world could use more of those.

Curling is short on referees (as in there aren’t any) but rich on tradition.

It requires far more skill than say, cornhole, but is a heck of a lot more fun than golf. But like golf’s gentlemanly, or shall we say, civilized tradition, the game begins with an exchange of well-wishes between players.

Hoffman gathers the teams together where we knock brooms as if we were toasting cocktails. Instead of “cheers,” I’m instructed to say “good curling.”

A typical curling game has four members per team or two per team in mixed doubles.

Standing at one end of the ice, the player designated the skip determines where his teammate should aim to slide the stone as well as what sort of spin to place on the throw.

The thrower, in a position similar to a low-runners lunge, pushes his or her foot out of a hack with their other foot sliding across the ice, either wearing special shoes or with a pad placed under a sneaker clad foot.

Once the thrower releases the stone, two sweepers brush the ice in the stone’s path with vigor allowing it to travel farther and straighter.

The skip tends to shout at this point. A lot. But politely.

Points are scored by getting stones across the curling sheet (the area of play on the ice) and into a circular tiered diagram, similar to darts.

I put on a good show to the disbelief of a few players. I’m not sure why they’re surprised; I have good aim and have been practicing pigeon pose for years.

Sure, I fall flat on my stomach a number of times but eventually catch on, sliding with grace, keeping my stone in line with my target, then manage to land it in the vicinity of the skip’s designated target.